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Thread: Alan Mathew Champagne - Arizona Death Row

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    Alan Mathew Champagne - Arizona Death Row


    Philmon Tapaha and his girlfriend Brandi Hoffner




    Murder trial of Alan Champagne set set to begin in Phoenix

    By Bryan West
    KPNX

    PHOENIX - The murder trial begins Monday for a man charged with killing a couple almost six years ago at his Phoenix apartment and burying their bodies in a plywood box in his mother's backyard.

    Prosecutors say Alan Champagne killed Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Nicole Hoffner at his apartment in July 2011.

    Three months later, authorities say they received a tip that two people were killed in Champagne's apartment and that the person responsible for the deaths was named "Mico," which is Champagne's nickname.

    But investigators were unable to locate the bodies until Champagne's mother was evicted and a landscaper working at her former home discovered the box.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Champagne.

    This is not his first murder trial. In 2005, he was released from prison after serving 13 years for second-degree murder.

    The trial starts at 10:30 a.m.

    http://www.12news.com/news/local/val...enix/428009564

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    Arizona man on trial for 2 bodies found in mom's backyard

    By Associated Press

    PHOENIX – Alan Mathew Champagne employed a wrench nearly six years ago to crank up the tension of the noose around the neck of 26-year-old Brandi Nicole Hoffner, who was forced to smoke methamphetamine moments after witnessing Champagne shoot her boyfriend dead with a shot to the face, prosecutor Ellen Dahl told jurors in opening arguments Monday.

    Champagne approached Hoffner from behind as she puffed the drug from a bong and wrapped the cable around her neck, Dahl said.

    "The noose got smaller and smaller and smaller," Dahl said.

    The cable and wrench were found around Hoffner's neck 20 months later when a landscaper discovered the bodies of Hoffner and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Philmon Tapaha, buried in a plywood box in the yard of a Phoenix home where Champagne's mother had lived.

    Champagne killed Tapaha and Hoffner at his Phoenix apartment in June 2011, had a neighbor build the plywood box, poured lime inside it to help the bodies decompose and buried it a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) away at the home, prosecutors said.

    They are seeking the death penalty against Champagne, who is already serving a 700-year sentence for attempted-murder convictions after barricading himself at his mother's home and opening fire on officers who went to arrest him in March 2012 on an aggravated assault warrant. He surrendered after he ran out of ammunition. No one was injured.

    Champagne, 46, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.

    He previously served 14 years in prison after pleading no-contest to killing a man in 1991 while high on alcohol, LSD and paint fumes.

    Defense attorney Maria Schaffer told jurors that Garcia's girlfriend, who is expected to testify against her client later in the trial, isn't a credible witness because she was given a lenient prison sentence for her role in the deaths.

    "The only evidence that leads to my client, Alan Champagne, to the commission of these murders is the word of Elise Garcia, who bought and sold her testimony for 16 years in prison," Schaffer said.

    Garcia was at the apartment during the killings and would not let Hoffner leave after Tapaha had been shot, police have said.

    Garcia was sentenced to 16 years in prison last fall after pleading guilty to murder in Hoffner's death.

    Champagne looked squarely at the jury and swiveled in his chair as the prosecutor laid out her case to jurors.

    Dahl said Champagne rented equipment to make the shallow grave where the plywood box was buried and returned there to pour soap on the ground to try to control the foul odor of the corpses.

    Police pulled over Champagne days after the killings and found a bag that reeked of rotting flesh, a bag of lime and Tapaha's Social Security cards, but they didn't yet know about the slayings. He was arrested on an unrelated misdemeanor warrant.

    Eight months later, while in custody on yet another unrelated case, Champagne was questioned about the disappearance of Tapaha and Hoffner. Investigators had learned about the killings through an anonymous tip.

    It's unclear when police began to suspect that the bodies were buried, though investigators have said Champagne acknowledged burying them during a later conversation with an undercover officer.

    The undercover officer spoke with Champagne at the jail seven times in 2012 and 2013. In one conversation, Champagne gave the officer a copy of a police report about Tapaha and Hoffner's disappearance and said, "This is my problem, know what I mean."

    The break in the case came in March 2013 when the new owner of the home where Champagne's mother once lived began remodeling and a landscaper using a hoe found the plywood box buried underneath four inches of dirt.

    No clear motive has emerged, but police have said Champagne was feuding with Tapaha, 32, about a relationship.

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/01...-backyard.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Alan Champagne Found Guilty

    VERDICT: Alan Champagne is guilty of 2nd degree murder,1st degree murder, kidnapping and 2 counts of abandonment/ concealment of a body.

    State v Alan Champagne: The second phase of the trial will begin on 6/26.

    https://twitter.com/courtpio
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    June 28, 2017

    Jurors consider death penalty after Phoenix double-murder conviction

    The penalty phase for a man convicted of murdering two people and then burying them in the backyard of his mother's house began Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

    Alan Champagne was convicted in the murders of Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Hoffner. He was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of abandonment or concealment of a dead body.

    Elise Garcia, Champagne's girlfriend and co-defendant, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty in Hoffner's death.

    The jury this week is hearing testimony to help it decide whether Champagne will face the death penalty or whether some mitigating factors can help him avoid a death sentence.

    Defense attorney Maria Schaffer on Tuesday reminded jurors their decision will have a consequence.

    "That decision you all make is binding — it's final," Schaffer said.

    Schaffer appealed to the jury for compassion, asking them to view Champagne as a human being foremost. She argued this crime, while serious, was just one part of his overall life. Schaeffer said she intends to show jurors why he has made poor choices and how he went from a small boy to a man convicted of murder.

    "Mitigation is not an excuse for what happened," Schaffer said, adding the man's past is not an "abuse excuse." She projected a photo of Champagne as a young "innocent" boy and asked that the jury not make their decision from a position of hate, rather one of compassion.

    "It'd be understandable if you didn't like him," Schaffer said, while imploring the jury to use their personal values to make their decision.

    Maricopa County prosecutor Ellen Dahl argued jurors would not be deciding whether Champagne should live or die, but rather there are enough factors to show leniency.

    Dahl said that the law dictates how jurors should reach their verdict, not their "moral compass."

    "The evidence must be proven to you," Dahl said. "Challenge it. Put it to the test."

    Dahl said the defense will prove Champagne had a childhood and that he had a mother who loved him, but questioned how much weight that should carry.

    Killings inside apartment, bodies moved

    Court records show that in October 2011, police had received a tip about Champagne's possible involvement in a double homicide at an apartment complex near Osborn Road and 12th Street.

    Police spoke with a maintenance man at the complex who said he smelled a strong odor coming from Champagne's former unit when he went to clean it, documents state.

    The man told police that he had built a large box for Champagne after he told the man he needed it to transport items from his mother's home, which was entering foreclosure, according to the documents.

    Court records state in July 2011, police stopped Champagne and his girlfriend, Elise Garcia, after realizing they were driving a car registered to someone else and found Tapaha's Social Security card and Hoffner's purse in the car. Authorities did not immediately connect the two to the double homicide.

    The same month that stop occurred, Hoffner and Tapaha were reported missing, and investigators discovered that Tapaha was the brother of Phillena Tapaha, someone who had two children with Champagne.

    According to records, Phillena told police that her brother had found out that Champagne was cheating on her and that it may have caused him distress.

    The two were eventually arrested in March 2012 following a SWAT team stand-off at his mother's house when they refused to surrender on felony aggravated assault warrants, according to police. Champagne was accused of firing at SWAT officials, documents say.

    Once in jail, a former cellmate told police that Garcia had detailed to her that she was in the apartment when Champagne killed two people, later identified as Hoffner and Tapaha, documents state.

    According to records, Garcia said Champagne had ingested drugs and pointed a gun at the two people to frighten them. Champagne opened fire and shot Tapaha in the head. Garcia held Hoffner at gunpoint before Champagne returned and strangled Hoffner, documents say.

    A huge break in the case came after a new owner started remodeling Champagne's mother's former home and a landscaper uncovered the bodies of Tapaha and Hoffner.

    According to court records, Champagne spent 14 years in prison for murdering Ricky Marquez at a party where two rival gangs fought in central Phoenix back in 1991. He was released in June 2005.

    'Cruel and cowardly'

    Dahl argued that the defendant was not an "innocent boy" at the time of the murders, but a 40-year-old man.

    "The defendant is not a victim of his upbringing or society," Dahl said.

    She also cited Champagne's long criminal history, in which he was a committed gang member and had gone to prison before on a murder conviction.

    Several relatives of Brandi Hoffner read statements to the jury Tuesday, showing photos of Hoffner during childhood and as an adult.

    Hoffner's father, Balvino Hernandez, read a statement in Spanish about his daughter, which was translated in court for the jury. He said he separated from Hoffner's mother when she was little and he did not get to see her until she contacted him years after she became a mother herself.

    "She was taken in a cruel and cowardly way," Hernandez said.

    He said Hoffner was murdered just as they were beginning to reconcile.

    "No one could ever cure that pain. Now all I have left is a broken heart," Hernandez said.

    Hoffner's brother, Daniel Hoffner, also testified, saying his sister loved the outdoors and singing in choir despite not being able to carry a tune and showed the jury a tattoo he had done in his sister's honor.

    "Her life lives on in her children," he said. "She will always be in my heart."

    Christine Philips, Hoffner's sister, echoed the same sentiments the brother expressed, retelling fond childhood stories of Hoffner and her silly nature.

    She also described how her family has struggled since her sister's death, describing emotional struggles of some family and the impact on her physical health.

    "Time causes the heart to hurt worse," Philips said.

    This penalty phase is expected to last through this week before the court takes a three-week break and resumes on July 24.

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...ion/431768001/

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    Phoenix man sentenced to death in double murder, burying bodies in mom's backyard

    By Lurissa Carbajal
    AZCentral.com

    A Phoenix man convicted of killing two people and then burying their bodies in the backyard of his mother's home was sentenced to death on Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

    Alan Champagne was convicted of first- and second-degree murder in June for the killing of Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Hoffner in 2011.

    In addition to the death penalty for the first-degree murder charge, Champagne was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the second-degree murder conviction, along with convictions for kidnapping and concealing a dead body.

    Champagne's then-girlfriend, Elise Garcia, also was arrested and charged for her role in the killings and subsequent cover-up. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison for her role in Hoffner's death.

    She was a key witness in Champagne's trial, testifying that she only heard the gunshot that killed Tapaha but witnessed Hoffner's killing afterward. The pair were killed inside the apartment that Champagne and Garcia shared.

    A few days after the killings, police pulled over Champagne and Garcia. Police found a bag that reeked of rotting flesh, a bag of lime, Tapaha’s Social Security card and a purse belonging to Hoffner. But police didn’t link the items to the missing couple.

    Champagne was only arrested on an unrelated misdemeanor.

    Eight months later, the pair had another run-in with the law. Police were called to the home of Champagne’s mother, where detectives had tracked down the couple because they were wanted on felony aggravated-assault warrants.

    Champagne barricaded himself and opened fire on officers before a SWAT team stormed the residence. He only surrendered when he ran out of ammunition, police said.

    No one was injured, and authorities searched the property, but did not find the bodies. Champagne was convicted and sentenced to 700 years in prison for the attempted murder of numerous police officers responding to that incident.

    The bodies of the missing couple were not found until March 2013 when a landscaper discovered the makeshift graves of Tapaha and Hoffner in in the yard of the central Phoenix home where Champagne's mother had resided at the time of the murders.

    Garcia testified that she heard the gunshots that killed Tapaha and heard Hoffner beg for her life. Champagne told her to calm down, then told Garcia to hold the woman. He then used a black electrical cord to make a noose, strangling Hoffner from behind, court records say.

    The bodies were found clothed, mummified and covered in lime.

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...s=&from=global
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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